


First lesson

by ernads



Category: Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem (Visual Novel)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 06:27:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13358433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ernads/pseuds/ernads
Summary: Ana is only four when she is learning a hard lesson





	First lesson

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lea_hazel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lea_hazel/gifts).



Anaele was four. She was a big girl now. Soon, she will be allowed to learn how to fight! She couldn’t wait for that, but mother said it would only happen in two years. 

Mother took her on a ride this morning. It was a cold, cold day, but mother didn’t allow her to wear warm socks. Her little feet were really cold. But she is a tough princess from Skalt, not a crybaby like those softer girls. She would not cry and complain.

Suddenly, mother halts, stops the horse and puts her down on the snowy road. 

“Look here, little princess, I don’t like to do it but you are my daughter and I am the queen, and I can't go soft on you. Do you understand, Ana?”

“No. What’s happening, mom?”

“I’m leaving you here and going back to the camp. You are to follow me on foot and find the way back, alone. You are four years old, Ana, and it’s your first lesson in becoming a great warrior like me. So don’t disappoint me, princess”.

With that, mother mounted the horse again. And in an instant, she was gone. Ana was left all alone.

It was early morning yet. The ride was not very long, Ana thought. Mother is doing this to make me tough, like her, and I will show her I am the bravest princess ever! I will not cry. 

The snow was cold on her little feet. She was not dressed for a long stay outside, and her bare feet ached horribly. Ana ignored the pain, however. Pain is not something to flee from. Not in Skalt, where only the hardest and strongest survived. No, pain is just something to accept and that’s all. 

Ana learned how to track since infancy, almost. She learned tracking from the best warriors in Skalt, and in the fresh snow it was not very hard to find the horse’s tracks. Until suddenly the track vanished. Mom must have erased the tracks so it will not be so easy to follow. But Ana remembered the general direction the horse went, and she knew where home Camp was, more or less. 

She walked. And walked, and walked some more, even when her little feet went numb completely. She walked because to stop is to surrender and die, and a princess of Skalt never surrenders. Ever. 

The sun had started its westward journey when Ana finally saw smoke rising from a camp fire. She wanted to almost cry from sheer relief, because if the dark fell before she was home, mom would have declared that she had failed the test, and Ana couldn’t stand to fail mom. 

She almost stumbled into camp, but caught herself in the last second and maintained her dignity. 

With her head high and her back straight, Ana walked calmly back home.

  
  



End file.
